Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop Inc., the longest surviving gay and lesbian book store in the world and the first of its kind in Canada, is up for sale.

Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop Inc., the longest surviving gay and lesbian book store in the world and the first of its kind in Canada, is up for sale.

By:Niamh ScallanStaff Reporter, Published on Mon Dec 26 2011

Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop Inc., believed to be the oldest gay and lesbian book store in the world and the first of its kind in Canada, is up for sale.

Store owner John Scythes, working at the second-floor shop on Yonge St. north of Wellesley Monday afternoon, said he planned to reach out to friends and regular clients before considering a public sale of the iconic, independent bookstore.

Scythes, who bought the store from founder Jearld Moldenhauer in 1991, began to look for potential buyers about a month ago, staff member Prodan Nedev said.

Shelves crammed with books and walls cluttered with posters, there were few signs of distress at the shop Monday, save for a sliver of white paper taped to the front countertop, asking anyone interested in buying the store to contact Scythes.

The bookstore first opened in 1970 in a small apartment in the Annex and quickly became a gathering place for Toronto’s queer community. A political and cultural hub, Glad Day was fixture in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in Canada, spending decades embroiled in costly legal battles against censorship.

Scythes refused to comment further on the private listing. But in 2010, he told Inside Toronto he was forced to dip into his own pockets to keep the independent bookstore — hard hit by a drop in sales — afloat.

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